[NYTr] Venezuelan Priest Says Bishops Should be Closer to the People Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:11:05 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Priest Wants Venezuelan Bishops to Be Closer to the People Caracas, Oct 29 (Prensa Latina) A priest asked the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference on Sunday to be closer to the people. In an interview with journalist and ex vice president Jose Vicente Rangel on channel Televen, Vidal Atencio, parish priest of Las Mercedes Church, in the state of Zulia, noted that there are differences between the top Catholic hierarchy and the clergy. Commenting on a communiquC) from the Episcopal Conference criticizing the constitutional reform promoted by President Hugo Chavez, Father Atencio pointed out that the bishops do not consult the clergy. "They just inform," he said. He went on to say that the members of that body must get closer to the community, because they have turned their backs on most Venezuelans who have a socialist thought or are building it, he stressed. Father Atencio recalled that the Episcopal Conference was involved in the April 2002 coup d'etat and "they are talking about new hatred and conflicts." He added that it is significant that the communiquC) agrees with US President George W. Bush's statements on Cuba. The priest noted that a new socialism with great doses of Christian love is possible, because it exists in this process to build Venezuelan socialism. ef jg ml PL-15 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================